I have been on the kimono train for awhile now but mostly in the form of sweaters. I was eager to make the Florence Kimono pattern and try it out in a light weight voile for the summer. And yes we are already having 90 degree weather here in Charleston. We had a nice spring. I think it was on a Tuesday this year. I made the extra long version of this pattern and the only thing I changed was the sleeve. I graded in the sleeve about 2 inches so the sleeve wasn’t as “kimono” like. Although I like the concept of the kimono sleeves, I wanted to see how it would look if I changed it up and I think the form fitting sleeve suits me better. I decided to wear my new kimono last weekend to a pool party, styled with a one piece bathing suit and shorts. The perfect cover up, which makes me wish I had about 10 more!
Excuse the wrinkles in this photo above. I normally iron my clothes, but these days, I’m lucky if I have time to brush my teeth! But I wanted to show a close up of the fringe and my blind hemming. 
I used the Swifting Flora Swell in Voile from Art Gallery Fabrics that I picked up from my local fabric store, Five Eighth Seams. But the best part of this project was the trim. I searched far and wide and could not find any fringe trim that wasn’t over the top expensive. I found some really great fringe from Etsy but it was $30 a yard. No thank you. And then all of the trim at the fabric stores were either lace or pom-poms. My friend Stacy had the great idea to find clothes from a thrift store and repurpose the trim onto my garment. But then I was walking through Walmart and found these “fabulous” shorts for $9.99. I took them home, popped out my seam ripper, and had just enough trim to add to the bottom of my kimono. All without breaking the bank. And on top of that now I also have some awesome jean shorts (size 8 if anyone wants them, they’re yours).
